Berlin’s lost Renaissance sculptures rediscovered in the Pushkin Museum: Art historians have discovered 59 Italian Renaissance sculptures missing from Berlin’s collections since the Second World War in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, according to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Campaign Underway to Save a Queen Elizabeth Portrait: A public appeal has been launched to raise £10m to save the Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I for Royal Museums Greenwich. The painting is being sold by the descendants of Sir Francis Drake, who have owned it since at least 1775.

Good news as UK to finally adopt Hague Convention: At long last… It was announced in the Queen’s speech yesterday that the UK Parliament would see the introduction of a bill to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

French minister of environment announces an unprecedented total domestic ban of ivory: The French minister of the Environment, Energy and the Sea, Ségolène Royal, seized the opportunity of the biggest ivory destruction ever in Kenya to announce internationally her decision to adopt a total ban of ivory sales in France. She declared that she would be promoting an enlargement of this measure to other EU countries.

Bonhams launch online-only auctions with single-owner watch sale: Bonhams are launching into the internet-only auction arena with a timed sale of watches from a single-owner collection of a European nobleman.

The British Museum should take BP’s cash: Many public bodies in Britain have faced acute funding pressure in the years since the financial crisis. The UK’s museums and art galleries are one group that has been hit especially hard.

Should the Art Market Be More Heavily Regulated?: Last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, professor Nouriel Roubini (a.k.a Dr. Doom) made headlines when he openly said the art world was “shady” and claimed that “art is used for tax avoidance and evasion.” Roubini is hardly alone in his analysis, at least according to this year’s Deloitte Art & Finance Report.

Qatari Royal Family Settles Picasso ‘Bust of a Woman’ Suit: A settlement was reached in an international legal drama over Picasso’s plaster “Bust of a Woman” pitting two of the world’s biggest art buyers against each other, New York billionaire Leon Black versus a member of Qatar’s royal family.

Millions of dollars and dozens of works diverted in Ace Gallery bankruptcy case, accountant finds: The outlook for Douglas Chrismas, the founder of one of Los Angeles’s oldest and largest galleries, seems to be growing bleaker by the day.

US Attorney’s Office Indicts Morris Zukerman on Art Tax Evasion Amid Ongoing Crackdown: As authorities in Manhattan continue to crack down on tax evasion including art related activity, Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced a three-count indictment against investor and former Morgan Stanley executive Morris Zukerman, 71, for evading over $45 million in income and other taxes. The charges include tax evasion on the purchase of several Old Master paintings.

Sotheby’s Holder Shanda Gets Antitrust Approval on Stake: Sotheby’s shareholder Shanda is poised to increase its stake in the struggling auction house. Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Qian Qian Luo, co-founders of Singapore-based Shanda, an owner of a 2 percent stake in Sotheby’s, received U.S. antitrust approval allowing them to purchase more shares.

The Art Market: New York sales down but not out: Final figures now in for the giga-week show that Bonhams, Christie’s, Phillips and Sotheby’s evening and day sales made just over $1.2bn. So while the value was sharply down on last year, a substantial amount of art did find buyers, albeit often at “new reality” prices.

Study Says Millennial Collectors Have Faulty Concept of Art’s Value: A new survey from wealth management firm US Trust points to a deep generational divide between how younger and older art collectors think about their holdings.

Looted Safavid bowl returned to National Museum of Afghanistan: Christie’s and the British Museum in London have joined forces to return a looted, early 17th-century tinned-copper bowl to the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul.

Troubled Malaysian Investor Jho Low Sells Off Masterpieces Amid International Investigation: Malaysian businessman and former world-renowned art collector Jho Low is getting rid of a number of artworks, including major Jean-Michel Basquiat and Claude Monet paintings, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation is “actively examining his financial dealings in the US and abroad,” according to a lengthy report in the Wall Street Journal.

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